Rush sat quietly upon the dirty floor, she really didn't have much choice in the matter. Her despair, which had been steadily increasing momentarily lessened. Her wrists hurt from being bound so tight, her bottom aching from sitting on the cold hard floor so long, her head still pounding from the blow that initially knocked her out. Her emotions were wrecking havoc within her; there was something to be found, her heart yearned toward it even if her mind could not comprehend it.

            Rush suddenly felt irritable. He had known that she had no choice. She hadn't the choice when he had told her to listen carefully, nor had she the choice to do other than what he had told her. He stood now, one leg crossed over the other with his arms folded across his chest; to anyone who walked in at the moment, he would have looked the epitome of a lazy but deadly guard.  

            A slight tapping of his foot brought Rush fully alert. It was the sign. The door flew open then, and Seifer flew in; he was trembling with rage and breathing heavily; his eyes locked with Rush's. He looked at her with undisguised hatred and with a sudden jerk of his hand backward he aimed the punch of a man consumed with anger beyond rational thought. Though Rush saw it coming, she made no move to avoid it – she wanted to feel the sting of his hand, the pain made real for the dull ache in her heart.

            Then Seifer suddenly stopped, actually jerked backward; his face changed to an apologetic one: his mouth half – open and eyes confused upon hers. He unceremoniously slumped to the ground at her feet. Behind him, the man with the hat grinned, and slid back the small baton into his inner coat pocket. Rush was shaking slightly, looking at the unmoving figure at her feet she felt a hatred course through her, she pulled both feet upwards and aimed a unrestrained, vicious kick at it's head. Cursing under her breath, she rained blow upon blow on his body. Hands and feet still tied she hissed angrily when a firm grip tightened upon her arm. Frustrated and angry, she threw a punch but failed miserably when the man swiftly moved out of her way, she lost her balance and fell clumsily down to her original sitting position.

            "Who are you, anyway?"

            "Ouch… that must hurt…" The man looked over at the fallen Seifer, ignoring her question for the moment. Rush stood up to him summoning up the courage to look threatening in front of a man who probably outweighed her by three.

            The man was good – looking, with long brown hair and eyes that sparkled with mischief. "Irvine, darlin'..."

            "Who sent you?... Why did you come?" Rush felt like she wanted to ask a million questions, yet – she did not know for sure if she could trust this Irvine. She sighed in frustration and pushed her tied wrists toward him, "Untie me!"

            He chuckled, and was ungentle while untying her hands causing her to wriggle and grunt. When she was free, she checked her herself for broken bones or deep cuts. She had no broken bones but she could feel the matted blood that had somewhat dried on her hair from the blow that had initially knocked her out.

            The man suddenly spoke up, his voice loud in the silence of the room. "We need to get out of here, quickly." He bent down and arranged Seifer into a sitting position, a semblance of a drunkard; to add effect, he placed an empty beer bottle near the limp hand. Rush nodded and then to her surprise the door was thrown wide open as Selphie, Zell and two of her squad mates rushed in. Irvine turned just in time to see a small fist coming straight at his face. He barely had the time to blink, the hand made contact and he was thrown to the floor by the force of it. He rolled over, disoriented; staring at a face – large green eyes, albeit narrowed and had it not been scowling, it would have been a very pretty face. "Cute…" he managed to mumble before his vision swam and he lost consciousness.

            Rush tried to stand. She faltered as the for short moments, the room turning in circles around her. She felt a warm arm encircle her waist, steadying her. "Can you stand?" Zell asked her worriedly. She gripped his arm, supporting some of her weight upon it while waiting for the dizziness to pass. Selphie was rearranging Irvine's body to sit next to Seifer, giggling a little when she placed one arm around the other stationary man's neck. Rush smiled, they really did look like two passed out bums. On the other hand, Zell watched her with relief. He had eyed her with anger brewing, the cut made to her scalp was certainly deep; although she had waved his concern away over it, Zell decided that a trip to the infirmary was definitely in the cards for her – even if he had to carry her there, kicking and screaming.

            A scuffle of footsteps made the three jump. Rush nodded to Zell to indicate she could stand and he reluctantly released his hold upon her. Selphie whispered, "Let's go, me and Zell found a back pass through one of the smaller sewers," she tiptoed to the door and checked to see if the coast was clear. She nodded sharply and began to move down the dark hall. "What is this place?" Selphie asked under her breath. Both Zell and Rush shrugged their shoulders.

            "Hey! You there!"

            Footsteps boomed down the corridor. Selphie turned to Zell and Rush with a panicked but excited look upon her face. "Run!" Selphie began to sprint down the hallways, Zell and Rush following close to her heels. The chase seemed endless, the men were almost a match for them, more than once nearly closing the distance between them.

            Her feet gained a steady rhythm. They had turned a corner and they could hear from the voices that echoed, that the men pursuing them were momentarily confused and unsure which direction to follow. Rush breathed in deeply and attempted to clear her mind. Selphie was distressed, "I can't remember the way! It was such a maze to get here… if I could find the opening gate!" Zell shook his head, navigation was just not his thing.

            Visions. Swimming… this place, holds memories I cannot place… I remember… I remember…

She felt like she was two different people at once. It was unnerving and strange. Rush looked around, to her horror Selphie and Zell weren't there. She ran her fingers through her hair, shocked again with it's length; it was short, cut bluntly at shoulder level.

Voices… Time shifts…

"Just follow me!" She heard her voice echo somewhere. She saw herself, jumping in a sewer hole, reaching hands out to a shy – faced brown haired boy. "Come on! Trust me…"

Rush started. Selphie and Zell, along with the two other cadets were staring at her oddly. "What?"

"You were off in this trance… you didn't hear anything I said, did you?" Selphie asked softly though her tone was clipped, keeping her voice low. Rush looked back at Selphie, locking her eyes with the green ones that stared back steadily at her. "If I told you I knew the way to a temporary safe hiding place, would you believe me?"

One of the cadets spoke up, "How could you know? You're just like us! This is our first time in a city, we've never been anywhere but Balamb! We're islanders!"

Rush looked quickly over to the person who spoke, she was a islander all right – down to her pigtails and pert look. They hadn't the time to answer Rush's questions, they were quickly being found, the sounds of their voices carrying across amplifying corridors. Shouts and orders were heard, they all jumped. Rush began to run in a direction. They all ran, this time she was without doubt. She ran swiftly, Selphie and Zell close at her heels; their trust in her absolute. She knew the way, somehow she had always known the way…

Her chest heaved, her head swam… there was something very wrong with this, not only wrong but also illogical. "But if it will save us, I'll just go there…" Rush muttered to herself. "We should be save here," she said, pointing up a somewhat hidden staircase. "They shouldn't find us if we're very quiet for a while…" Selphie nodded emphatically. They all hastened to follow her up.

"Ouch!"

"What?" Selphie hissed, looking down past the darkness to find Zell's face.

"You kicked my head!"

"I did not!"

"You did so! Why have we stopped?" Zell asked, facing downward, both wanting and not wanting to look up at the appealing underneath of Selphie's short SeeD uniform skirt.

Selphie didn't answer, she was getting worried about Rush. For Rush had suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere; now she and the rest were all dangling on the ladder, waiting for her to climb higher. She called Rush's name a few times, and felt an eerie feeling that Rush simply wasn't there in the mind.

"She's right…" Rush breathed. "I am… here?" Memories? My memories? That boy… that girl. Is that me? Hush! Just listen!  

"Up there?" The boy was young, cute for a youngster… looked like one of the better looking junior students. His incredulous face was watching the girls intently, immersed in her. The dark hair swung in her eyes, excitement making them luminous. She answered,

"Yup. Quickly though, the last bout of fireworks is about to go off."

The scrambling of feet, the clanking of his boots upon the stairs winding upward… upward into the distance until they faded. With that, the memory faded and Rush became aware of the insistent Selphie calling her name again and again.

"Yes, Selphie." Rush automatically said, climbing again. Selphie was dumbstruck, since when had she been so formal?

The clanking of SeeD boots had Rush's mind churning. That noise was making her nostalgic inside somehow, the grip of a memory that would not release itself.

She cleared the stairs, and pushed awkwardly at a metal frame that covered the entrance. The piece gave way quite easily and with minimum noise, sliding away to reveal a room filled with machinery, obviously unused over time; dusty and rusted. There was an odd pile of… something, and few pieces of old, dirty clothes were hanging around here and there. 

She nodded to Selphie below her and pulled herself through. She gave a loud sigh upon entering, not noticing a figure crouched nearby, but hidden in the shadows; in battle stance in the darkness. Selphie's head popped through, "Cool! Like a hidey – hole!" Her eyes gleamed, any thought of adventure excited her, but all further thought vanished as she saw – and screamed.

Rush turned around, barely in time to save her neck from being sliced in two. She brought up her weapons, more suited to attacks in close quarters. The attacker's eyes never left hers. Rush gasped, "It's you!"

He quickly unsheathed a peculiar looking weapon. A long sword... not unlike something she had seen just early yesterday! What did Ellone make me see? It's him from the vision!  Her eyes widened in surprise as he moved in on her, quick and smooth – like a cat stalking its prey.    

They both moved like dancers, deadly grace and precision equally matched. Each dodging the others every move, anticipating and knowing. They stopped, each acting defense for a fragment of a moment.

"Selphie, back!" Rush yelled, Selphie immediately saw the wisdom in it, though she could not stop staring at the youngish attacker who seemed like he had no disregard for his own safety in his offenses. She quickly issued orders to Zell and the two other rookies and quickly said a prayer for luck while surveying the tight space where her friend and the mysterious attacker were furiously dueling, before jumping down the ladder to wait.  

His eyes were feral, they glared at her through eyes that lacked a thousand years sleep. The icy blue of them seemed to glow as they watched her, only her and the movement that she made. And he wore only black, a single earring at his left ear – it gleamed lightly in the darkness, almost not visible for his longish brown hair that fell above it. Why does this feel so 'wrong' somehow? He thought, this was his place – the only place he could call his own, to lurk and think about his failures and the life he could not remember, the place where he drowned in sorrow and gained strength from the memories that flowed from the place itself. The only place where 'she' could not call or summon his attendance. And now this... girl, had come. His instincts told him to kill, to annihilate, anyone or anything that trespassed this sacred place; but for some reason he could not understand, his mind was not game.

Intruder, you will pay...

At one moment, Rush had looked past the disheveled appearance, past the longish bangs and into his eyes. What she saw there, she herself felt that she would never understand. He stared back, though both were edged for battle, his eyes looked old and wild, ringed with red and full of rage. But she felt none of that hatred, it was not for her! Her mind exploded with images, she felt herself grow less inclined to battle, for in that one moment, she saw herself, as a girl... in his eyes.

He took that momentary lack of concentration to hone in for a kill. Kill? He found himself raising the butt of his weapon instead, striking her full on the head before vanishing silently out through the open space in the wall which overlooked the city gates.

*           *           *

Selphie's eyes were wide and round, staring up at the small trapdoor that led to the room that had just suddenly gone silent. She motioned to Zell, and with fear in her voice she said, "Should we go in?"

Rush raised herself, wobbling terribly at the knees and with the taste of street dirt in her mouth. He could have killed me! There and then, he had the opening! Rush shook her head, she could think of that later. She had to get back somehow, to Garden... but that was far, too far. She had to think quickly...  

The loud noise of the trapdoor opening made Rush's head swim and ache with pain. She held her head tenderly as Selphie rushed to her, swearing under her breath at the second lump in one night already swelling on her friend's head. Zell quickly did a roundabout check, not wanting anything to happen twice.

Rush made a feeble sound, her voice croaking, "Guys, we need to get to Galbadia Garden..."

One of the squad members gasped, "But why? Why not take a train and leave for Balamb? Wouldn't it be best to report today's failure?"

"We're obviously not dealing with any tom, dick kind of organisation. They're trained and skilled... and we've been betrayed, by one of us." Rush said slowly, thoughtfully. "And anyway, in the course of heading to Balamb right now, would be out of the question, as we are hunted by those who would see us dead at any cost," she blew out a breath, "But I can't figure out for the life of me why..."

"In the course of one's inability to report his case to his respective Garden, a report should be made to the nearest one," Selphie softly recited. "Well, what are we waiting for? But how are we going to get there?"

Rush gave herself a mental shake, wondering if she was going mad. "I know the way..."

I do know the way... I'll ask myself how later, when we get through this... and I'm feeling alive, and me – not me wandering  in someone else's dream...

"Rush... how do – " Zell started to ask, but then stopped. She had kept them safe so far, hadn't she? He trusted her with his life if it came to it. He briefly thought of the girl who had arrived from Galbadia to Balamb that day four years ago, at the train station – with no baggage or memory, just the same ridiculously short repeated story of her vacation with her Aunt Elena in Deling City. Zell shrugged, they were in Deling City right now, weren't they? Maybe that's how she knew... he would ask her later, but for now, they would all have to trust her.